Sunday, October 25, 2015

Boy, what a past few weeks we've had. First, I would like to say thank you to the kind hearts for praying for Bruno. Sadly, he passed away a day later after requesting prayers for him. We have no clue what took him so quickly. Such a sad day for me...I cried when I should have been celebrating. It was our oldest daughter's birthday. It just put a funk on the whole day.

This photo was taken the day he had a little upset tummy and the next day, he was at deaths door.

~I will definitely miss him~

We were all able to scrounge up a few smiles as we watched Sara open her gifts on her birthday. We had two birthdays in the same week...her's and Mike's.

Where does the time go? I am getting older by the minute!

Hannah giving her big sis a birthday hug...

sniff sniff

And the birthday boy. He's growing so fast, lol.

I am so very blessed to have this little family of mine. And to be able to celebrate special moments like these along with every day living.

God has truly been good to me.

Just look at where I live....the beauty is all around me and I see God in it. His beautiful and talented artistry just amazes me every day!

Now, I want to talk a little about some make up. I have a red face that is getting redder as I get older. It drives me insane! Especially after going blonde. A red face and gold hair do not go well together. Thank goodness for photo editing but Lord, help those that see me in person, lol. I have good moments and bad with the red.

After seeing a photo of my gold hair and red face, I decided it was high time to do something about it. I do not have rosacea, acne trouble, dry skin or oily skin. I do not know why my face is red, but I do know that my Dad's face is red just like mine. It must be hereditary.

I googled what I could do with make up and this is what I found. Bye Bye Redness correcting creme. I was amazed at the videos and reviews, so I knew I had to get my hands on some. I found that our Ulta store sold it and was off the next day to buy it!

Fair warning...I look like a beet farmer! These photos are not edited at all. They were taken with my cell phone, so the colors are a bit off anyways. But you'll see the difference! Just look at how the red disappeared! This is with no other make up on my face other than the Bye Bye Redness Correcting Creme by It cosmetics. Let me add that I absolutely hate thick make up, that caked on look and feel. I will not wear foundation. This stuff is amazing! I barely used any because it is thick. A little goes a very long way and that's good with it being $32 for .37 ounces. But it works and is definitely worth the price.

The left photo is with a green primer, a loose powder, blush, some eye shadow, lip gloss and of course mascara. I always wear mascara since my lashes are blonde. The right photo is just with the Bye Bye Redness correcting creme. Still no editing in either photo. Now, I can have my photo taken inside without looking like a red faced goofball!

And as for my hair, well, I used an ash blonde to tone down the gold and I love it! The hubby said to me that if I had never colored my hair, then this would be my natural hair color. I'm sure glad he remembers what it looked like way back when...because I almost forgot, lol!

Now, on to what I've been doing around the house. I bought some beautiful antique china and finally had the time to rearrange my china cabinet. I absolutely adore old china, especially with pale pink and blue flowers.

I also love to mix patterns! See how everything looks so pretty together? 3 patterns are in there....

For the larger pieces that wouldn't fit in the china cabinet, I set them around the kitchen. Some candy will look great here for Christmas! I can't wait to start decorating!

Can you believe I changed up the photos here? The girls have been begging me to do away with their old photos. I can't wait to decorate this for Christmas!

And I changed this photo as well. It's pretty nice to be able to do your own photography!

One last thing...Look what I was finally able to buy?! These gorgeous Poinsettias are a pale pink covered in sparkly snow. They were 40% off too! I will say again, I cannot wait to start decorating for Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by....

I pray that all of you have a very blessed week to come and that it's full of joy, love and peace!

Sunday, October 4, 2015

I needed a little change, so I decided instead of cutting off all of my hair, that I would go lighter. So glad I did!

Here is a photo of the last time I colored my hair which was about 4 months ago.

I had an ombre' that had faded, so I just added the dark color to the top half.

But of course, we all know that color fades as time goes by. My original hair color is blonde. As I got older, it became a little darker in spots except around my face. So when I color my hair dark, my blonde always shows it's color around my temples along with a few grey hairs (cough cough) making it a pain to have dark hair when I pull it back.

See, I was born a blonde.

This was my hair color when Mike and I were dating before I started highlighting it. I've always had red and gold undertones when I lightened my hair so I gave up when I was younger. I have horror stories about carrot orange hair on a Sunday night before school and no stores being open, lol. Oh, it was awful!

But it taught me that any hair catastrophe wasn't the end of the world.

So, I bought some Color OOps to take out the dark color. If you have fake color in your hair and want to go lighter, you have to do this or the bleach will not lighten.

This is what it looked like after...

Orange!

Then my sweet Sara did my hair with these two colors. Ion High Lift ash blonde and pale ash blonde.

I think she owes me from all of the hours spent on her hair, don't you? lol She did a great job!

I then used the Wella T18 toner. It didn't do the trick, so then I used the Wella 12A Ash blonde the next day to take out the brassiness. It did the trick!

It turned out to be a strawberry blonde which was perfect. See how my hair takes to the red and gold undertones even though I used "ash" everything? At least my eyebrows match now! I always had to dye them before with the dark hair.

I recommend using this shampoo for all blondes if you tend to have brassiness. It truly works! The girls use it on their platinum hair and it keeps it looking white.

Oh, and I cut my own hair too...not too shabby, huh? I should have been a hair dresser...but then I would be dead from all of the fumes! That stuff is dangerous, lol!

So, for the pick me up, it did the trick. Between all that's going on in the world, our health, and daily life choices, a new hair color can add a little change to your life. But without God, nothing would ever help. He's the answer to everything and I am thankful I was able to do my own hair and save a few dollars.

Friday, October 2, 2015

I'm going to do a little something a bit different today. Rather than share photos of our home, I want to share some thoughts with you.

My heart is heavy....the things I am seeing in this world are a little concerning to me. With what's going on with Russia, the shooting at an Oregon College pertaining to whether one was a Christian or not, our country's president and what he's not doing, the Pope's visit and what he said, Israel's leader explaining with a speech at the UN about how no one is helping or defending them....I mean, can you see it? There is so much more that has happened, but you get the picture.

Are we really all ready for what is about to come? Are you ready to stand for what is right when faced with life or death on this earth? Christian faith is being attacked. I'm not talking about those that say they are Christian, but never act it or live it. I'm talking about those who truly love God and make it their life, live by peace and love and hurt no one.

Are you ready to pronounce your belief when faced with a choice of living or dying on this earth or are you going to choose to live eternally?

About Me

Hi, my name is Melanie. I am a stay at home mom who has two of the most beautiful daughters a mama could ever want(every mom says that, right?) and a wonderful hubby that actually lets me do whatever I want when it comes to decorating. As long as he has a comfy place to be and a full belly, then he's good to go.
I grew up in a small town and loved it. My "Mammaw" had a huge part in raising me. She taught me some very important things....always be nice, have a relationship with and love God, and be the very best mom and wife I could ever be. Of course there is more, but then I'd be writing a book.
I am so very blessed to be here and have what I have. My wish is to share my loves and passions with you...hope you all enjoy.